Baldwin's Book Details Career In Hockey, And With The Whalers

Back when the renegade World Hockey Association was blooming in the early 1970s, Howard Baldwin sometimes thought he was living in a movie.

The man who would later reinvent himself as an Oscar-winning Hollywood producer knew a good story when he saw it. He happened to be living it, as the rag-tag WHA eventually merged with the established NHL.

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"It was "Slap Shot" meets "Moneyball" meets "Social Network," you know?" Baldwin said Thursday. "Not that we ended with as much money as Mark Zuckerberg … but you get the drill, man."

Readers will get the story from Baldwin's new book, "Slim and None: My Wild Ride from the WHA to the NHL and all the Way to Hollywood." Baldwin, who lives in Los Angeles and has returned to the movie business, will be back in the area this weekend, signing books at Barnes & Noble in West Hartford's Blue Back Square from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday.

The book, written with Steve Milton, took about two years to complete. Baldwin, of course, returned to the Hartford area in 2009 and formed a company that ran the city's AHL franchise from 2010 through 2012, a controversial period he covers with a chapter in the final section of the book.

The book also deals with the birth of the WHA and the Whalers move to Hartford and eventual shift to the NHL. It covers Baldwin's years in the NHL, from Hartford to Pittsburgh, and his career in Hollywood.

"It's not a typical sports book," Baldwin said. "It touches on the entertainment, all the behind-the-scenes stuff, without getting into a lot of 'He scored what and when and why.' "

The book's title comes from a line written by a Boston sports writer after Baldwin's group was awarded a WHA franchise. Baldwin's team began in Boston before moving to Hartford, eventually luring Gordie, Mark and Marty Howe and surviving the Civic Center roof collapse.

The Howes provide an endorsement blurb in the book, along with Kevin Dineen and Chris Berman. There are also blurbs from Sylvester Stallone, Russell Crowe and Matthew McConaughey, a reflection of Baldwin's eclectic career.

The book is dedicated to "Dreamers."

"The message is that if you follow your dreams and if you have a passion for something, try to do it, no matter what it is," Baldwin said. "I think people will also be surprised at how the [Whalers] started and some of the things that went on. It wasn't some rich owner writing out a check. There was a lot of salesmanship and hustling."